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Karnataka’s higher education minister MC Sudhakar criticised the UGC draft rules on faculty recruitment, calling them “unacceptable,” and invited state ministers to discuss their impact.
Karnataka Higher Education Minister MC Sudhakar (Image: X)
Calling the recently released University Grants Commission (UGC) draft rules on faculty recruitment “unacceptable”, Karnataka higher education minister M C Sudhakar on Thursday said that it’s not just the Opposition-ruled states, but even the JD (U), a key ally of the ruling NDA, that has “openly expressed its reservations on the regulations.”
Speaking to News18 on Karnataka organising the states higher education ministers conclave in Bengaluru on February 5 to discuss the draft UGC regulations 2025 (currently open for public consultation for stakeholders feedback) as well as the grading of institutions based on the implementation of the National Education Policy (NEP), 2020, Sudhakar said that his department has sent out letters to his counterparts in all states on Thursday, asking them to join in and “hoped that the JD (U) comes out in the open to take a stand in the matter.”
“JD(U) spokesperson has come out in the open and expressed their reservations as far as the draft UGC regulations are concerned. We have sent out letters to all higher education ministers to join the conclave. Let’s see how many come. I do expect 12-13 states to participate. I will be happy if JD (U) also joins,” the minister told News18.
A section of the Nitish Kumar-led JD (U) had on Wednesday opposed the UGC draft regulations saying that “they did not agree with things said in the draft”.
The Karnataka higher education minister added that the conclave is “not for political reasons”, but rather a crucial issue for state governments, which allot land and majorly fund state colleges and universities, including infrastructure and paying salaries of the staff, to have a say in their functioning.
“The main crux of UGC issue is that state governments through their own state enactments establish universities – public or private ones. We are answerable to the people, and states are answerable for day to day happenings in universities. States are also responsible for imparting quality education,” the minister told News18.
“We respect the UGC as regulatory authority, and UGC was earlier directly funding research programmes, but this has been missing for last 10 years,” he added.
Pointing out how the state’s role in the selection of University VCs has been removed, Sudhakar said, “Till now, there were no major issues with UGC regulations but now they have come up with idea of taking away the rights of the states in terms of appointment of VC. Earlier the appointment of VC was in concurrence of states. There was equal responsibility earlier. They have removed representation of the state government from the panel that proposes the name of VC. The state now has no say in the appointment of VC.”
“VC need not be academician, the new rules say. The tenure now has been extended to 5 years instead of 3 years, as per new rules,” he added.
What Karnataka Minister’s Letter to States Says
A copy of Karnataka’s letter sent to invite the state education ministers that News 18 has seen stated: “A number of concerns have been raised on the draft regulations including the method of appointment of Vice- Chancellors, which impinge upon the rights of the states in a federal set up and impact the states’ roadmap for Higher education. In addition, the UGC has also published a draft document on January 3 relating to ‘Grading of Higher Education Institutions based on implementation of NEP’, 2020 which requires detailed deliberations. These guidelines pose a number of challenges in implementation.”
It further said that considering the above, the Government of Karnataka intends to organise a one-day Conclave of State Higher Education Ministers on February 5, 2025, to discuss the various issues pertaining to the above regulations and to strive to arrive at a joint resolution on the issue.
“It gives me immense pleasure to invite you to the State Higher Education Ministers Conclave to participate as a speaker, engage in deliberations and provide your valuable views on the matter. Your participation will enhance the outcome of the Conclave and will help us to meaningfully take up the vital issues pertaining to the draft regulations and to pass a joint resolution on the issue,” the letter read.
Opposition-ruled states up in arms against draft UGC rules
Several Opposition-ruled states have been opposed to the UGC (Minimum Qualifications for Appointment & Promotion of Teachers and Academic Staff in Universities and Colleges and Measures for the Maintenance of Standards in Higher Education) Regulations, 2025 released on January 6, citing that the rules go against the federal structure of governance and badly hits the autonomy of higher education institutions. The state governments have also said that the Centre did not deem it necessary to hold any dialogue with states before coming out with such a policy.
These states include Karnataka, Kerala, and Tamil Nadu. The draft rules have been released even as these states in the southern region are in the process of coming out with their respective state education policies. Karnataka was also the first state to have opposed the NEP in 2021.
The Kerala Assembly had on Tuesday unanimously passed a resolution urging the ruling NDA government to immediately withdraw the draft UGC regulations.
The Tamil Nadu Assembly too had earlier this month passed a resolution asking the Centre to roll back the said draft rules.
The draft rules propose to invest more power in the chancellor — who in most cases is the governor of the state appointed by the central government, and to be more specific, by the President of India — a bigger hand in the selection of the vice-chancellor (V-Cs). It also proposes to reduce the number of people in the search committee to be appointed for selection of V-Cs, mainly leaving out state government representatives, who so far used to be on the panel.
“Even during the implementation of NEP, the Centre did not consider having any dialogue with state governments, which have a major role in planning, funding and in the day-to-day functioning of colleges and universities. We came to power in 2023 and did not want to take a hasty decision to replace the NEP in the interest of students. Hence, we set up a panel to formulate a new state education policy, which already came out with its interim report last year while the final report is expected to be submitted by next month,” the Karnataka higher education minister said.
